Heney zellnek



H. ,ZELLNEEL Hemp Brake.

Patented Juy 16 1867.

gleiten. tetes atnt @fitta HENEY ZELLNEE, o E o OLUM'EIA, TENNESSEE.

'Lett/ers Patent No. 66,767, datent' July 1G, 1867.

IMPROVEMENT IN BREAKING vlliblD GLEANING'HEMP.

TO ALL WI-IOMI'I MAY CONCERN:

'I Be it known that I, HENRY ZELLNER, of Columbia, in the county of Murray, and State of Tennessee, have"l invented a new and improved Machine for Breaking and Cleaning Hemp, Flax', &c;; and I doihereby declare the following to be a-full, clear, and exact. description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, and iniwhichf- Figure 1 is a top view of 'my invention.

Figure '2 is a. longitudinal vertical section of 'the same.

Figure 3 iea side elevation of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicatercorresponding parts in the several igures.

Inthis invention the endless apron `is independent ofthe feed-rollers, and revolves with a much greater speed. The beater is so arranged and'operatedthat its slats strike between the slats of the endless apron, and thoroughly reduce the hemp or flax. .Y i`

In order that others skilled in the art to which my invention appertains may be enabled to make and use the same, I will proceed, to describe it in detail. l

In.,the drawings, A A represent parts of the frame of my machine; B,gupright posts, which support several parts of the mechanism; C, the feed-table; D, the drive-wheel, working` on the shaft d, to which is attached the roller d. E is a second roller, working aboveV and in connection with the roller d', and, both together, sitated at the forward extremity ot' the feedftable, constitute the feed-rollers- These rollers are of equal size, and are channelled or grocved along their surfaces, the projections thus formed upon one working like cogs in the depressions upon rthe other, and communicating the motion of the roller cZ, received from the driving-wheel, to the companion-roller E. ff are two small rollers, .which carry an endless apron, F, extending from the feed-rollers d E to the front end of the machine. The apron F is made ofstrong slats,t' z z', ruimingdirectly across the machine, and confined at their ends to endless chains I I, running at the sides of the machine over the extremities of the rollersff, and along supporting ledges I attached to the frame A A on its inside.

The links of the chains I I may be made of iron, or any other material of suilicient strength, as may also the bars of the apron F. The rollers ff may be provided with ra.gwheels,f, if necessary, to give perfect regularity and uniformityy to the motion of the apron F. Above the apron thus described is albeater, G, consisting of horizontal side pieces g g,l connected by parallel slats g g', corresponding to the slats z'z'of the apron F, and being so arranged that when the beater is depressed suiliciently its slats willenter the spaces between 4the slats of the apron. Vertical guide-pieces H H are attached to the outside of the pieces g g, and run in corresponding vertical'grooves on'the inside of the posts B B, by which means ythe beater is lsteadied and made'to ascend and descend always in the same vertical plane. The beater receives its motion by pitmen KK, worked by th v doublecrank-shaft L, which, in its turn, is operated by the beltl M, connecting it with lthe-drive-wheel D. Nis simply a post and drum fixedV to the side of the frame, to give the proper direction to the belt M, to make it exert the greatest power on the pulley Z ofthe crankshaft. Il is a fly-wheel, affixed to the crank-shaft to regulate its motion. At the extremity of the crankshaft opposite to thepulley lis asmall pinion-wheel, Z, operating, by means of an idle-wheel, O, the cog-wheel P on the end of the shaft of the apron-1'ollerf. lhe size of these wheels, and of thedriving-wheel, must be so graduated that the apron F will move considerably faster than the feed-rollers d E, and that the beater G, vibrating vertically above the apron F, shall rise and fall once while the apron is moving over a horizontal space exactly equal to the distance between thecentre of anytwo adjacent slats t'z'of the apron. By this means the slats g g, being situated above the spaces between the slats it', will always strike downward between the slats of the apron, and will rise out of the way while the slats it' are passingvimmediately under the slats g g. The feed-rollers d E must be made small, in order to bring the extremity of the apron F as near them as possible.

In a machine thus constructed an important result is secured, by means of the difference in velocity estabf lished between the feed-rollers and the apron. In the old machines these parts have the same velocity. The consequence is that the flax is forced through the feedrollers faster than -it can be. carried olf by the apron. Nothing obstructs the passage of the flax through the feed-rollers, but when it reaches the apron. the' beater detains it to some extent, and it accumulates in bunches and knots. My machine is designed to obviate this,

and does it perfectly. The apron works so much faster than thefeed-rollers, that however the flax may be retarded by the'beater, itis carried away faster than it is supplied through the feed-rollers, and can never accumulate on Athe apron. My arrangement of beater and apron more thoroughly reduces the hemp than any other arrangement new in use. One of the operators will stand by the rollerf arid receive the mangled hemp after it passes through the machine.- The length of tbe apron can be adjusted to the length of fibre or stock required to be operated upon. i I

The operation of my machine is as follows; The hemp is fed'fro-m the table C through in handfuls between the feed-rollers, and the moment the ends of the stalks `pass through the rollers they are caught under` the beater, which works close up to the feed-rollers. The slats of the beater strike down upon the hemp, crushing it and bending it down Vbetween the slats it'. The beater then rises. A few inches of the flax` are nowstretched on the end ofthe apron, the rest of it being held between and behind the feedrollers, andthe flax on the apron is bent down between the slats. But the motion of the feed-rollers, which hold the body of the flax, being slower than the motion of the apron,.the latter instantly straightens out the bent laX, pulling it up out of the spaces between the slats, and placing it horizontally on the apron again, whenit is 'ready for a second desc-,ent fof the beater, and the same operation is repeated, and so on indefinitely. In this way the flax is alternately bent and then straightened out, besides being'be'aten thoroughly in the process.. The handful thus fed to the machine having passed through to the operator stationed at the roller f, .he takes it from the machine. It is evident that the fibres of the flax will not become crossed or mixed in this process, but owing to the-superior1 velocity of the apron F, pulling at their forward ends, while the slower feed-rollers hold them behind, will always pass straight through, and be delivered in neat bundles, having all the libres parallel.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as' new, and desire to secure'by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of the beater G, having the. slats gg, with the endless aprony F, having the slats is', substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The combination of the beater G, pitmeu K K, crank-shaft L, idlefwhe'el-O, cog-wheel P, shaft 'or roller f', and apron F, for the purpose of adjusting the motion of the apron F to that of the beater G.

3. The arrangement of the rapidly-moving apron F, in combination with the slowly-revolving feed-rollers d E, substantially as and for the purpose specified. i

To the abovel specification of my invention I havefsigned my hand this tenth day of May, 1867.

. HENRYl ZELLNER.

Witnesses:

NATHAN A. ELLsWonTH, CHARLES A. PETTIT. 

